One thing I do have to say, he is probably confusing a lot of Taiji FORMS ONLY people <who most likely got their material from distance learning/DVD courses> for genuine Taijiquan instructors when he presents his info, since a lot of phyiscal posture and weight distribution info he emphasizes (which he seems to think is unique to him and his lessons,) is commonly taught by almost anyone who's ever pushed hands with another person.

Other than that and his "watch me, watch me" approach, his instructions on alignment are pretty decent.

How 'wrong' is it to learn non-martial/exercise (is there an 'proper' name for that?) Tai Chi from distance learning schools, books and DVDs anyway (in your opinion, as a practitioner of the art)? Regardless, it seems to be a very widely-accepted practice that probably isn't going to change...

It's a bit different to, say learning something like Judo, or BJJ, or Krotty in this manner.

No more wrong than learning BJJ via home study dvd, and still calling it BJJ. No hands on sparring, no BJJ. No push hand, shuai jiao, hands on training, no Quan (there is a distinction between Taiji Qigong and Taijiquan. It's just not a common distinction.) Just my 2c.

*I should add, when you train with a real (competent) instructor, they usually correct the posture problems that Al is talking about, which is what led me to believe that he is targeting the distance learning qi gong audience.

*I should add, when you train with a real (competent) instructor, they usually correct the posture problems that Al is talking about, which is what led me to believe that he is targeting the distance learning qi gong audience.

Taijiquan (supreme ultimate fist- where quan = fist) is a martial art. It incorporates takedowns, to some extent joint locks, a few concepts not unlike Aikido that involve redirecting of the opponent's force, and something called sticking/adhering, where you close the gap between yourself and the opponent, and keep your hands on him/her (unless she has a good lawyer) continuously deflecting attacks until you get an opening for uproot or takedown, at least in theory.

During the early 1900's, China was facing a cultural crisis which called on it's people to "strengthen the nation," and martial arts/qi gong practice happened to be a prominent element, helping promote national pride against the invading foreign influences. During this transition, a lot of literoti began attributing great cultural elements (such as cultural heros and famous figures) to various arts and practices, to strengthen their image, and promote pride in these arts. (This is part of why Zhang San Feng was at one point associated with Taijiquan.)

During this period (just at the start of Mao's Cultural Revolution) a number of prominent instructors left the country for nearby continents, or in some cases, the U.S. They brought with them the Qi Gong, strengthen the body/strengthen the nation sentiments, and emphasized that above the more "undesirable" violent aspects of martial arts, at least from the perspective of an educated Confucian scholar (which many of these instructors were.) A perfect example is Prof. Cheng M'an Qing, who is responsible for the vast chunk of Taijiquan presense in the U.S.

Through this filter, Americans were exposed to CMA, and so began the new age hippie trend of the 70s, where frauds from all over the world latched on to various esoteric elements of CMA, and exploited the gullible.

The Qi Gong element of Taijiquan became prominent mainly because it involved the form, no applications were taught (because some instructors discarded them for various reasons,) and the art became known as "Chinese yoga" or moving meditation, when in fact, it's other elements simply became discarded. A bit like doing kata without ever learning why, being told only that it makes you healthy.

This is a gross oversimplification of it all, but this is it in a nutshell. Hope it helps. If anyone feels like correcting me, please go nuts.

I actually stayed up late last night, because there's
something I wanted to get to you on time:

It's a BRAND NEW video plus a WRITTEN REPORT on
Complete Chi Health. You'll see explanations and demonstrations
of Advanced Training techniques from our ChiFusion Complete Course.

Here's how it came about and why I put it together for you.

As I type this, I'm getting new emails one right after another,
full of insightful questions about the advanced training.

And as I've been struggling to answer them all, it hit me -

A while back we held some webinars on "Complete Chi Health".
We recorded these webinars, and I've held on to the recordings
until now.

And then

Originally Posted by email 2

It's time to claim your ChiFusion Complete Course here:

<...>

Open registration lasts only for a short time,
so I would NOT hesitate. Get to that link today.

I may extend it a few days, but this might be your
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Followed very promptly by...

Originally Posted by email 3

Earlier I sent you the link you'll need to register during
this Open Registration period for the ChiFusion Complete Course.
When we first opened registration, we had a rush of people
hitting the website and placing orders, but we've worked
through them as best we can.
If you DIDN'T get the email with the Open Registration links,
please check your Spam or Bulk mail folder first.
This happens frequently - your mail service might mistakenly
put our messages there. This is especially true if you
are on Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Gmail, and other online
mail services.
So check your Spam or Bulk folder first.
If you can't find the message there, just reply to this email
and I'll send you the link again.

With the obligatory

Originally Posted by email 4

We're just about ready to close the current registration period.

So don't delay - go right now to this page to get your
Complete ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong course:

And this morning...

Originally Posted by email 5

That's it - I'm going to take down open registration and
the extreme discount for our ChiFusion Complete Course.

Here's your last chance to put this to work for you:

<...>

The only reason it's not ALREADY DOWN is because so many people
have written me and called to say they needed an extra day
to order.